Finn's Christmas Carol
by SLopez
Summary: The three Ghosts of Christmas pay a visit to Finn. Will he learn something from them? Let's find out! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1: Finn, the Scrooge

_Hi there!_

_Okay, so for those who already know me, I'm here with a new story sooner than I thought. Which is great, because I really love writing! :)_

_I'm reading a NCIS: LA fic (if you're into the show, you should read it, because it's brilliant; its name is 'A Christmas Carol G Style') based on "A Christmas Carol" and that got me thinking... What about I make it about Finn?_

_So here I am, writing about it and I hope to have it ready by Christmas Eve. I'm planning on this to be just about 5 chapters long, so I'm hoping that would be no problem on having this ready on time! Let's hope I'm correct! :)_

_Also, I'm undecided about marking this as a Finn story or a Finn/Rachel story... So far, it's Finn's, but if you think I should change it to Finn/Rachel, let me know!_

_Now, onto the story._

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Glee or A Christmas Carol. I do own, however, the computer where I'm writing this!_

* * *

**Finn's Christmas Carol**

**Chapter 1: Finn, the Scrooge**

The party was dead a long time ago and he should have gone home as soon as he realized it. Sure making that good deed for Mr. Schue felt great, but dealing with Puck flirting with Rachel? That was too much.

Yes, she wasn't his girlfriend anymore, but he kind of let her know that he was healing by smiling at her, right? He wasn't sure if she saw that, though.

After that, Mr. Schue put on the new version of the movie _A Christmas Carol_, with Jim Carrey, and they watched it, all of them sitting on the floor, with a bag of popcorn in their hands.

Eventually, the movie ended and the teacher suggested them to have a little party, with some happy talking about their last year, some singing, since they had made all the cookies and stuff. And Finn was more than happy to spend a little more time with his friends on Christmas Eve. He was just sad that Kurt wasn't there as well.

Then, while he was searching for Rachel discretely, he saw Puck approaching her. Unconsciously, he frowned. Puck said something and Rachel answered, then he put a_ hand on her arm_ while saying something. She giggled and he squeezed her arm lightly. For a moment, Finn saw everything red. Why did Puck have to steal all his girls?

Not that Rachel was his girl. Not anymore.

Then something like hatred grew on his chest. And it wasn't because of Puck, or Rachel. It was the Christmas time, all jolly and happy and forgiveness. And he didn't feel any of those things. Not in that moment, for what matters.

So, he decided the party was dead.

He said his goodbyes to the club and apologized Mr. Schue for leaving so early.

"No problem, Finn!" the teacher said "It was great to have you here! Thanks for coming!"

He just nodded and head to the door. However, before he turned his back to his teammates in the room, he glanced over at Rachel one last time. He regretted it instantly. Puck was leaning and whispering something into her ear and she had a small smile on her lips.

Yeah, the party was definitely dead.

**-X-X-X-X-**

Kurt, who was home to spend the holidays with his family, heard a loud thump from upstairs and went to see what had happened. While running across the stairs, he heard a crash this time. The noise came from Finn's bedroom. _The boy must be kicking furniture again_, he thought to himself.

He opened the door and there was a chair tumbled on the floor. His stepbrother didn't notice his entrance in the room. Instead he was crashing and stomping on every Christmas ornament, with which he had neatly decorated his room a few days before.

That was odd. Finn loved Christmas. What the hell had gone into his mind?

"Finn?" Kurt called, startling the other boy.

He furrowed his brows and aggressively asked.

"Don't you ever knock?"

"Oh, I'm sorry I was worried that my brother was fallen and had a broken leg or arm…" the diva male replied, sarcastically.

There was a minute of silence and then Finn kept his task on destroying as much Christmas symbols as he could.

"What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm relieving my anger on Christmas."

"That far I already got. I wanna know why. Did you pull on a Grinch?" Kurt insisted.

Finn took a deep sigh and turn to his brother.

"I, officially, hate Christmas."

Kurt's shocked expression was beyond explanation.

"Why? I mean, you spent the last month talking about how Christmas was your favorite time of the year, how it was going to be awesome to spend it with Ra… Oh… I get it."

"No, you don't. It's not because of her." Kurt looked at him, skeptical

"You know you could always forgive her. She's just as heartbroken as you are."

"See, that's exactly why I hate Christmas, because it is all about being happy and to forgive people and stuff like that and I don't feel it, okay? Just let me be alone with my bad feelings."

Kurt gave him a small nod, but didn't leave the room. Moments later, he decided to speak again.

"You should, at least, talk to her, or hear what she has to say to you."

Finn turned around and there were angry sparks coming from his eyes.

"I _don't care_ what she has to say. And I really hope she doesn't bother again and try to tell me one single word."

"You're just hurt. It's understandable, but…"

"Just shut up! I don't wanna hear about her, I don't wanna hear you, and, most of all, I don't wanna hear about Christmas, so let me put all this trash in the bin."

His brother frowned and shook his head, unpleasant.

"You're such a Scrooge! And there's no need to be so aggressive with me. I was just trying to help."

Finn snorted at Kurt.

"I don't need your help. I'm fine by my own. And yeah, let me be Scrooge, I don't care. Christmas sucks anyways."

"Okay, then, have fun when the ghosts come to pay you a visit!"

"Just piss off, Kurt!" he yelled angry.

The fashion-obsessed left the room, with a slightly offended expression. Finn wasn't proud on how he treated his new brother. However, in that moment, he couldn't care less.

* * *

_Tell me... how horrible was it? Very much? Not at all? Already curious about who are the ghosts?  
_

_Let me know!_

_SLopez_


	2. Chapter 2: Ghost of Christmas Past

_Hello there!_

_I hope everyone is fine! :)_

_So, here I am with the second chapter of this story. this chapter got bigger than I thought, so I hope you won't be bored to death reading it. I kind of liked the way it turned out._

_Hope you enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer:** Don't own. Why do you keep reminding me of that? *hysterical crying*_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Ghost of Christmas Past**

Finn got his own room shortly after his mom and Burt got married. Burt got home a few days after the wedding and spoke to him.

"Son, I know how you'd like your own space, so within a week I hope I have it ready for you."

And within a week it was.

It was a long and expectant week, because Burt wanted it to be a surprise and he still had to stay in Kurt's room. Sleeping in the same room as Kurt was not the problem anymore, they had sorted it out at the wedding, but he had a girlfriend at the time and needed his privacy.

The new room was great. Not as big as Kurt's but bigger than his old room and he had now a _big_ bed, like prince size or whatever people say, to share with his girlfriend.

Now he had the bed for him and him only. There was no more girlfriend.

After getting rid of all the destroyed Christmas ornaments, Finn laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. He'd been doing that a lot lately, mostly because of his break-up with Rachel, but he didn't want to think about that now.

Soon, he started to drift off to sleep and was in that slumber state between being awake and asleep when he heard a knock on the door.

"Mom, go away! I don't want to open my presents. I don't want to open any presents." he said blatantly.

His mom was acting weird. She had been calling him from five to five minutes, for him to meet them at the Christmas tree and open his presents. Which was odd since they only opened the gifts on Christmas morning and it was like just midnight.

Another knock. It wasn't his mother or else she'd be lecturing about the ways you should talk to your mom.

"If it's you, Kurt, just go away!"

"It's not Kurt and definitely not your mother." the voice came muffled by the door, but Finn still recognized it. He stood up, headed to the door and opened it.

"Mr. Schue, what are you doing here? It's because of me leaving early from your party?"

The teacher chuckled.

"No, Finn. I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past."

Finn's eyes widened and he looked at the professor like he was crazy.

"You're what?"

"The Ghost of Christmas Past. You know, like the movie we saw earlier at my house.

"Yeah, I know who the guy is, Mr. Schue." Finn frowned "Is this a joke?"

"No, Finn, this is serious. Now, please change your clothes, we're going for quite a ride!"

"Are we gonna leave my room?" Mr. Schuester nodded "Why can't I go with my pajamas?"

The teacher shook his head, smiling.

"It's snowing, Finn. You'll get a cold. And we won't be exactly in a road trip."

Still frowning, Finn did as Mr. Schue told him too and changed into warmer clothes. While he was getting dressed, he glanced at the teacher and, for the first time, he noticed he was kind of translucent, like real ghosts. Not that he had ever seen one, but like the ghosts in the movies. Was Mr. Schue dead?

"Mr. Schue, did you die?"

The professor laughed and shook his head.

"No Finn. Are you ready?"

On second thought, he wasn't translucent, he was more like _glowing_ or something like that.

Mr. Schuester climbed into his window and signaled Finn to join him.

"I know we're on the ground floor and it's easy to jump out the window without being caught, but I actually think my mom won't bother if she sees us walking out the door."

"Your mom is sleeping, Finn. Just come here!" the teacher was becoming impatient.

Finn approached the window and when he looked outside, he didn't see the neat back yard his mother and Kurt had been taking care of. No, he saw clouds in the grey sky, lots of them, like he was miles away from the ground. Like his house was hanging on some balloons like that Disney movie.

"Shit!" he muttered and then looked up at the man that was with him "Sorry, Mr. Schue, kinda slipped out." the teacher smiled at him "What's going on?"

"How did you think I was going to show you moments from your past? Riding a car?"

_This is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream_, Finn thought, reassuring himself of that fact.

"Now, will you come or not?"

Hesitantly, Finn climbed the window and, as soon as he got there, Mr. Schue pulled him and they landed in a soft cotton white cloud. The boy still wasn't recovered from the shock, when the teacher talked to him.

"Are you really ready, Finn?"

"Is this real, Mr. Schue?" he asked, reluctant.

"As real as you want it to be."

He nodded, not really understanding what the man was trying to say, but… what the hell! At least, he would have a great story to tell his grandchildren.

"Where are we going first?"

Mr. Schue guided him to another cloud, placed a little lower.

"To kindergarten."

They jumped into two more clouds and suddenly a building materialized in front of them.

"Here we are. Let's go in." the teacher entered and Finn followed.

Moments later, they found themselves in a small room, filled with little five year old kids. In one corner, there was a Christmas tree decorated with popcorn tinsel and handmade Santas and angels.

"Hey, that's Miss Roberts!" Finn said pointing to the middle-aged woman next to the tree "She was nice. Always bringing us candy."

Mr. Schue chuckled.

"Can you recognize anyone else in this room?"

Finn looked around and soon found his five year old self, cutely dressed with jeans, a green and red shirt and a denim jacket. Not very far from him was five year old Puck, slightly shorter than Finn and without a mohawk. Finn smiled at the memory.

Then he saw her and remembered he thought she was pretty at the time.

.

"_Miss Roberts, can you please help me to put this golden star on top of the tree?" five year old Rachel looked at the woman with those big chocolate eyes "I saw someone doing it on a TV commercial and since I like golden stars, I figured I could put the star on this tree."_

_Miss Roberts chuckled. She only knew the girl for two days and she was always surprised by her eloquence._

"_Of course, Rachel!"_

_She lifted the little girl up and Rachel put the star, grinning happily._

"_Thank you, Miss Roberts!"_

_As soon as she got on the floor, five year old Finn approached her. She was really cute dressed. She had a red skirt and red knee socks, and a green sweater with a reindeer, red nose and all._

"_Hi! I'm Finn. You're new in Lima, right?"_

"_Hello! I'm Rachel Berry and someday I'll be a Broadway star!"_

_Five year old Finn frowned._

"_I don't know what that is. Is it a different kind of a star in the sky?"_

_Five year old Rachel giggled. It was so cute that five year old Finn giggled too._

"_Look, I am tall, why did you ask Miss Roberts to help you put the star on the tree? I could've help."_

_She giggled again._

"_Yes, you are tall, but Miss Roberts is taller than you. Besides, you have no strength to lift me up that high."_

_His face narrowed._

"_One day, I'll be even more taller than Miss Roberts. And stronger too. Then, I will lift you up, so you can put your golden star wherever you want it to be." five year old Rachel looked at the ground, shyly "Hey, what will your mom and dad give you for Christmas? I'm pretty sure my mom's gonna give me that super awesome truck I asked her."_

"_I don't have a mom." five year old Rachel stated._

"_You don't?"_

"_No. But I have two dads. And they are great."_

"_I don't have a dad. I just have a mom, but she is great too."_

"_Well, you can borrow one of my dads. You seem nice and they wouldn't bother to take care of you!"_

_Five year old Finn's face lit up._

"_Cool. So, what are your dads gonna give for Christmas?"_

_She looked sheepishly to the floor again._

"_I don't know how to celebrate Christmas. I'm Jewish, so we don't celebrate Christmas."_

_He gasped in horror._

"_You have to stop being that, because Christmas is really awesome. You can have gifts and a Christmas tree and lots of candy!"_

"_Well, we have Hanukkah. I think it's similar to your Christmas, but I'm not sure."_

_Then, five year old Finn stood up and lent a hand to five year old Rachel._

"_Come on! I'm gonna teach you how to celebrate." she stood up as well and he continued to trail off about Christmas "First, you have to decorate your Christmas tree, then…"_

.

Mr. Schue glanced at Finn and touched his arm. Finn looked at the teacher and he had a small smile on his face.

"Come on, Finn. This isn't the only memory I have to show you."

Then, he climbed into a cloud and Finn followed.

"I know what you're trying to do, Mr. Schue." the teacher raised a brow "You're showing me the happy times I spent with Rachel on Christmas. The truth is that they weren't that many. I didn't even remember this one and I don't recall any other Christmas moment with her. Except today, but that wasn't exactly happy."

Mr. Schuester gave him a sad smile and shook his head softly.

"Oh Finn, you'd be surprised at the amount of Christmas memories you have with Rachel, that you didn't even notice. I will just show you a few. And speaking of that, we're here, at the new memory."

Two clouds slid to reveal the elementary school he went.

Wait, did Rachel go to the same elementary school as he went? He doesn't remember her there. He feels a pang of guilt in his chest.

"Are you ready to enter?" Mr. Schue's voice took him from his thoughts.

"Sure. It's snowing, we better not be outside a long time."

They went across the main hall into a corridor almost deserted. At the end of the corridor, there was an open door. It was a big room.

He remembered that room. They used to perform plays in there. And that was exactly what was going on. It was a Christmas play. Actually, it was their version of _A Christmas Carol_ and that was the part where the Ghost of Christmas Future visits Scrooge.

The Ghost of Christmas Future was performed by eight year old Rachel. She didn't have to say a thing and he figured she was upset about that at the time, because, well, she's Rachel Berry, she has to shine and be in the spotlight. But she seemed happy just to be in the play.

.

_The two Mr. Berry were on first row, flushed, watching their little angel perform for the first time. She had a black cloak on and her face couldn't be seen._

_The boy that had the part of Scrooge was following her, as the piece obliged, calling for her, wanting to see her face and hear her voice. His back was turned to the audience. When he turned around, eight year old Finn's face was seen._

.

"Is that me?" Finn asked.

"Yes, Finn, it's you." Mr. Schue seemed very amused with the situation and Finn frowned.

"How did I forget this?" he mumbled.

.

_The play kept going on, until reaching its end. The audience applauded enthusiastically and all the cast appeared on stage to take a bow to the public._

_Eight year old Finn was holding eight year old Rachel's hand and then they smiled happily at each other. The play worked out really great and they were proud._

_They got even more proud when they saw each other's parents giving them a standing ovation._

.

"My mom was there? Why didn't she ever mention this before? How come there's no footage about this?"

"You're too impatient, Finn. Just wait and see."

.

_They came down the stage and their parents rushed to them._

_Eight year old Finn was being smothered with kisses by his mother who kept saying she was so proud of him, while eight year old Rachel was getting huge bear hugs from her two dads. Her smile was lighting up the room. She seemed radiant for the success of her first play._

"_I'm so proud of you, my angel!" said one Mr. Berry "Now, go and celebrate with your friends."_

_She happily agreed and went to join eight year old Finn, who was chatting with eight year old Puck, who still didn't carry a mohawk._

"_Hello Noah!" she greeted, her voice already the most beautiful thing eight year old Finn had ever listened to._

"_Don't talk to me, Berry! You'll ruin my reputation."_

"_We're eight. How do we have a reputation already?" asked eight year old Finn, innocently._

_The other boy scoffed at him._

"_We just do. And if you wanna be popular like me, you shouldn't be talking to that loser." he pointed to eight year old Rachel, whose eyes averted to the floor._

"_I'm not a loser…" she mumbled "And hanging with you shouldn't make me popular too?"_

_Eight year old Puck sneered at the little girl._

"_No, because you're a freak. All you care about is plays like this and golden stars. You should be caring about training to be a cheerleader. That way you could be popular."_

"_Don't talk to her like that!" Finn interceded_

"_Whatever. If you want to be a loser like her, I'm not your friend anymore." with that said, eight year old Puck turned his back at them._

_Eight year old Rachel's eyes were full of tears. She had never been treated that way before. Still, eight year old Finn couldn't lose his best friend, the one who managed to get candy and videogames whenever they wanted. He started to walk away from her._

"_I'm sorry." mumbled eight year old friend, leaving eight year old Rachel behind._

.

Finn was speechless by his past actions. Ones he didn't even remember before.

"How could I have been so horrible to her, Mr. Schue? She… I…" he paused, trying to gain composure "I wanna know why I don't have any footage of this day. I'm pretty sure my mom would have taken some pictures, at least."

The teacher nodded.

"Okay, let's just jump on this cloud here and on the other side it's your home."

They did so and sooner, Finn was facing his old room.

.

_There were pieces of ripped photographs on the floor, on the bed, everywhere. His mother came in, minutes later._

"_Finn, honey, what are you doing?"_

_Eight year old Finn's eyes were puffy and red and his face was tear stained._

"_I'm mean, mom!"_

_Carole approached him quickly and circled her arms around him._

"_Why do you say that, sweetie? You're not mean. Your heart is gold!"_

"_No, it isn't. Today I let Puck treat Rachel really bad. And she started to cry and I walked away…" the eight year old boy let out a loud sob "I'm so mean, mom!"_

_Carole cradled him on her lap and passed her fingers through his messy hair._

"_You're not mean, honey. After Christmas break, you can apologize to Rachel and everything will get back to normal."_

.

"I never did it, did I?" he asked Mr. Schuester "Stupid question… of course I didn't apologize, or else she would be my friend during high school and stuff."

The teacher didn't reply. Instead, he started to walk again, ready to show him another memory. Finn followed without questioning and soon found himself at the McKinley High's hallway.

"Mr. Schue, I don't want to be a buzz killer, but I don't think I have a happy Christmas memory here. Not with Rachel, not with anyone else."

"Just watch closely."

He watched and by the date on the paperwork his fifteen year old self was carrying, he could say it was freshman year.

.

_The hallway was filled with people. Everyone was busy either at their lockers or chatting with the person next to them. _

_Fifteen year old Finn didn't see any familiar face and was actually rushing to his next class, he was already running late. When he went around the corner, he bumped into a tiny frame. He looked down and fifteen year old Rachel was staring at him._

"_Oh, I'm sorry I almost knocked you down, Rachel."_

"_There's no problem, Finn. I was distracted too. If I wasn't I could have avoided you." she was nervous. She always ranted when she was nervous._

_They were so absorbed in each other, they didn't notice where they were standing._

"_Just kiss already!" someone shouted._

"_W-what?" fifteen year old Finn stuttered._

"_You're under the mistletoe, just kiss already!" that voice sounded like fifteen year old Puck's._

.

"I remember this" said Finn "and I am not proud of what I did. Mr. Schue why are you showing me this? These aren't happy memories."

"Maybe not, but they are meaningful." replied the teacher.

.

_Fifteen year old Finn seemed tempted to do as he was told and within milliseconds he decided to lean down and just kiss her. She looked nervous, but her eyes said it all: it was a good kind of nervous. He felt his heart beat faster as he leaned down._

_She closed her eyes waiting for his lips to come down on hers and all she felt was a freezing cold liquid colliding with her beautiful features._

_Fifteen year old Finn stepped back instantly to see who had done that, who had slushied her. He found them right away. Fifteen year old Azimio and fifteen year old Karofsky were laughing at her, her hair dripping a red viscous liquid and a hurt expression on her face._

_Fifteen year old Finn stood there looking from Rachel to Azimio and Karofsky and back to Rachel. He had a shocked expression on his face, but was paralyzed. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't even think._

_Then, there was someone moving in front of him. A blonde cheerleader shoved fifteen year old Rachel to the side._

"_Move it, Man Hands!" fifteen year old Quinn said, putting her arms around Finn's neck and kissing him on the lips. It was a simple, quick kiss and when she pulled away, fifteen year old Finn's expression was still shocked "That's how this works, RuPaul. There's no place for a loser to date a popular guy like Finn. He is mine."_

_Fifteen year old Rachel took two steps back and then left the place running to the ladies room, while fifteen year old Finn wanted to go after her and, as always, didn't._

.

Finn turned to Mr. Schuester, with pleading eyes.

"Can we please go home now?"

"There's one last memory I want you to see."

"Please, Mr. Schue, I can't take anymore of these memories. They just remind me of how a bad person I am."

The teacher seems to be analyzing him and then shook his head.

"Let's just see this one more. Follow me."

Finn did as he obliged. They climbed some fluffy clouds and then his old living room materialized in front of him.

"When was this?" asked Finn, curious. There was no one in the room.

"Last year's Christmas, after Sectionals and after you found out about the real father of Quinn's baby."

Finn averted his gaze again to the room and at the same moment, people were getting in.

.

_Finn and Rachel entered the room. As always, Rachel started the conversation._

"_So Finn, are you okay? I mean, I don't imagine how it is, but I can understand, if you want to share it with me."_

"_What are you talking about?" Finn asked._

_Rachel's gaze targeted the floor._

"_Quinn's baby."_

_Finn sighed heavily._

"_No, actually you don't imagine how it feels, but I'm glad you told me the truth when nobody else had the balls to do it. Better now than later."_

"_I just feel guilty all the time for putting you through so much pain."_

_They started to decorate his Christmas tree._

"_Don't be. I'm serious, Rach. I'm kind of glad the baby isn't mine, because now I don't have that many responsibility." he looked into her eyes, from the other side of the tree "I mean, if the baby was mine, I was more than willing to take that responsibility upon me, but since it's not… I'm relieved. That's the word, right?"_

_She giggled, happily._

"_I've never done this before." she stated quietly._

"_What?" he asked._

"_Decorating a Christmas tree. You know I'm Jewish. We don't have these trees in our celebrations. The only thing I had ever put on a Christmas tree was a golden star and it was a long time ago."_

.

"She remembered it last year. It's the story from kindergarten, right?" the teacher nodded "How could I forget?"

"Sometimes, we need special people to remind us of who we really are. And I'm not talking about me. You've always knew these memories, I'm just refreshing your memory, like Rachel was trying to do last year, when she mentioned that."

They concentrated again on the scene in front of them.

.

"_Really?"_

"_Yes. But that simple action felt great. And that same day, I learned a lot about Christmas." she replied with a smile._

_Finn returned the smile with his trademark half-grin and they kept decorating the tree in a comfortable silence. Shortly after that, Rachel started to hum a Christmas song. At first, he didn't recognize it, but he concentrated, frowning, and realized she was humming Deck the Halls. It was one of his favorite Christmas songs and he started to sing along._

_When they finished the song, they realized the tree was fully decorated and very cutely, if he may add._

"_I didn't know you were familiar with Christmas songs. I mean, you're Jewish, shouldn't you be singing Jewish Hanukkah songs?"_

_She giggled again. Just that simple sound made his heart rate faster._

"_There aren't many Hanukkah songs, and I may be Jewish, but I'm planning to be a performer. I can't get religion stand in the way of my dreams."_

_Finn nodded._

"_How are you so sure of what you want in the future?"_

"_I don't know. I just am. But there are a lot of things that I wish I had and I can't have."_

_They were very close to each other._

"_Like what?" he asked, grinning and pretending he didn't know._

_She lifted her head up, to meet his gaze._

"_Like you." she mumbled._

"_Who said you can't have me?" he whispered, leaning down._

_They inched closer and closer, in what seemed decades, and finally their lips crashed into each other's._

.

Finn raised his hand to touch his lips at the memory. He even felt butterflies on his stomach, just by watching that.

.

_They pulled apart and Rachel smiled shyly. Finn's expression was mirroring hers._

"_No slushie this time!" she exclaimed, partially joking. She seemed like she still didn't believe that had happened._

"_And no Quinn." he added, giving her his half-grin._

_They chuckled until Rachel spoke._

"_Thanks Finn."_

"_For what?"_

"_For the best Christmas Eve I've ever had."_

.

"Let's go home. The Ghost of Christmas Present will arrive soon." said Mr. Schue.

Finn nodded, with traces of tears in his eyes.

They climbed on another cloud, and Finn followed Mr. Schuester through a path of fluffy white clouds. Soon, he took a sight of his new bedroom window and they climbed inside the room.

"See, Finn, you didn't always make bad things to her." Finn shook his head vigorously.

"I gave her the best Christmas Eve she'd ever had and two weeks later I broke her heart again."

"Maybe, but she already forgave you for all those times you broke her heart. After all, you spent pretty good times together, am I right?"

"I know where you're going with this talk, Mr. Schue, but right now I can't. And those weren't really happy moments."

The teacher nodded, with a sad expression.

"I know, Finn. But like I said they were meaningful. Your choices were the only thing that was wrong." he paused "Well, I can't tell you what to do or don't. Just think about it. And don't forget to treat the other ghosts as good as you treated me." Mr. Schuester winked at him and waved goodbye as he jumped out the window.

Finn rushed to the window. _Is the man crazy? Don't he know that we're like millions of miles up in the air?_, he thought worried. However, when he looked outside the window, there were no more clouds and grey sky. He just saw his old and regular back yard.

He went to is bed and lay again on his back.

Suddenly, he heard a thump coming from near the window and a howl.

_Guess I'm gonna meet the Ghost of Christmas Present now_, he thought, taking a deep breath.

* * *

_Any guesses about who's the next ghost! :)_

_How was it? Great? Horrible? Meh?_

_Let me know!_

_SLopez_


	3. Chapter 3: Ghost of Christmas Present

_Hello everyone!_

_Here is another chapter of this story! Once again, I got carried away and it turned out bigger than I thought!_

_Also, there's a WARNING for aggressive language, you'll understand why. There's also an excerpt of the episode 'Special Education'. I don't think I captured it full like on the show, but it's pretty much all there._

_Now, thanks to all your reviews! You're awesome!_

_Hope you enjoy this chapter.  
_

_**Disclaimer:** Glee doesn't belong to me, but I would like it very much._

* * *

**Chapter 3: Ghost of Christmas Present**

The ghost groaned and it was a pretty familiar groan to Finn's ears. Then the ghost cursed and Finn was sure who he was.

"What are you doing here?" Finn asked.

The ghost was standing up and looked at Finn, confused.

"Didn't Mr. Schue tell you?"

Looking at the guy in front of him, Finn could only think about one thing… _This can't be my Ghost of Christmas Present… The dream just got into a nightmare._

"Seriously, what _the hell_ are you doing here, Puck?"

"I'm your Ghost of Christmas Present. Thought you've already realized that."

Puck crossed his arms in front of his chest and smirked at his friend. Well, ex-friend. Finn just stared at him with angry eyes. Puck looked like Mr. Schue, with translucent glow, or whatever.

"You're the reason why I'm this miserable! Why the hell will you be the one to teach me some stupid, cheesy moral lessons?" Finn spat "And aren't you supposed to be like jolly or something?

"OH! OH! OH!" mocked Puck "Is this jolly enough for you? You happy?"

"I so want to punch you right now."

All he heard was a mocking laugh. Yeah, you could say he was jolly, even if his jolliness was sarcastic. Then, Puck looked at him, smugly.

"I'm a ghost dude. Your fist will just pass through me."

Finn frowned, getting angrier.

"Well, that's crap, because Mr. Schue touched me, he didn't pass through me."

"That's because he wanted to touch you. And if I wanted you to touch me, you could. But I don't want you to. Not until you fix your anger issues."

Finn opened his mouth, astonished.

"I don't have anger issues, Puckerman! I just have anger issues when it comes to _you_! You're always ruining my life, either we're eight years old or sixteen!"

Puck's eyes averted to the floor and Finn could swear he saw a hint of embarrassment in his eyes.

"So Mr. Schue showed you the play at elementary school." it wasn't a question "I'm not proud of that, man. I'm actually not proud of a lot of things when it comes to our friendship." he stared into Finn's eyes at this last words "Now, are you ready to go?"

Finn shook his head.

"No, but do I have a choice?"

Puck seemed like he was considering it.

"No, not really."

"Let's go, then." said Finn, defeated.

He stared to go towards the window and Puck stopped him.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"Well, Mr. Schue show me the past by jumping from the window into some clouds. I thought you were doing the same." stated Finn, shrugging.

"No shit?" asked Puck, surprised "Mr. Schue has some really cool tricks, man."

Finn nodded and, after a moment, asked aggressively.

"Are we going or what? Aren't you short on time or something, because of the other ghost?"

"Oh yeah, let's go. Through the door, Finn." Puck said, when he saw his friend walk to the window again.

They were halfway Finn's bedroom door when Puck shouted.

"Wait! I knew I was forgetting something." Finn looked at him with boredom "I need to show you something from two weeks ago, more or less."

"What is it? And weren't you supposed to show me the present? Mr. Schue already showed me the past."

"I know, but he only showed you past moments related to Christmas. Now, come on."

Finn fought the urge to stomp his foot.

"I'm not going until you tell me what moment is that you're gonna show me."

"It was better if you just saw it when we get there, but it's your choice." he paused and Finn nodded, wanting him to continue "It's the day I kissed Rachel."

It was like the air had left his lungs when Finn heard that. And he didn't stop himself and charged against Puck, passing right through him and hitting a wall.

"I told you, you couldn't punch me. Did you really think that tackle me would be different?"

"Shut up." replied Finn, angrily and rubbing his left shoulder. "I don't wanna see that."

Puck snorted, impatient.

"This isn't like you have any choice! And I'm not gonna show you the moment when I ki…"

"Don't say it, please."

"When that happened. I'm going to show you what led to it. Now, just close your eyes, bro."

"I'm not your bro anymore." Finn returned, but did as the other boy said.

Five seconds had passed and then Puck told him to open his eyes. He did so and found himself at McKinley, right behind a Rachel Berry who was staring at him, who was on the other side of the hallway, at his locker.

"Watch closely." said Puck. "And try to watch it from her eyes."

.

_Rachel was looking at him, apparently deciding whether to go his way or not. Then, that evil Santana came on the opposite direction. She slowed down a little next to Finn and winking at him, blew him a kiss. Finn smiled at her, flirting._

_Then, the Latin Satan went into Rachel's direction and whispered into her ear, in an evil hiss._

"_Did I tell you he bought me a dinner after?"_

.

"I did not, bitch!" shouted Finn at Santana, like she could hear him.

"Shut up! She can't hear you and now it's the best part!" Finn eyed him, questioningly "It's where I come in."

Finn frowned.

"This isn't a fucking movie, moron!"

.

_Rachel leaned into her locker, sad, when Puck appeared behind her. He put a hand on her shoulder, startling her._

"_You okay?"_

_She looked at him, in utter shock._

"_Why are you talking to me? Are you going to steal something from me?"_

_Puck smiled at her. It was actually a smile, not a smirk._

"_Look, after six hours in that port-a-junk I wasn't myself and then I turned to God. I prayed. I promised that if he got me outta there I'd start being nicer to people." Rachel looked at him with wide eyes "Then I realized there was no way I could do that, so I changed it… to just Jews."_

"_It's Finn." her gaze went down to the floor._

"_Boyfriend troubles. I got that covered. Considering I'm usually the cause of them, I'd say I'm an expert." Puck smiled and then offered her his arm "Walk with me." he asked and Rachel took his offer._

.

Finn watched them going away and he couldn't hear their talk, but he knew they were talking.

"Take me to the present, please." he pleaded, closing his eyes.

Seconds later he opened his eyes and was again in his room.

"Why did you show me that, Puck?" he asked, hurt "Can't you see I didn't need to see you two together?"

"I didn't show you the kissing part." Puck shrugged.

Finn closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Besides," continued Puck "you didn't put yourself into her skin. What did you see back there?"

"I saw you two getting ready for a heavy make-out session." scoffed Finn, frowning.

"See, that's where you fail! It wasn't a session, it was just a kiss. But that's not the point. The point is what Rachel saw there and what she saw was her boyfriend, Finn, flirting with super hot Santana. Yeah, she told me you said that in front of her… you're really a dumbass, dude! After the truth about the sex with Santana, you say she's _super hot_? _To Rachel_? Did you even apologize to her?" Finn looked sheepishly at the floor, but was still frowning "Anyway, that's what she saw, man, and can you blame her?" Finn stood in silence, the words of his ex-best friend sinking in "I'm not saying that what she did was the best thing, considering I knocked your other girlfriend up, but I don't think she even thought about that. She just… I don't know, got carried away." Puck paused "_It feels like shit to not being noticed by anyone. It feels worse when it's your boyfriend who doesn't notice you._ She said all this crap to me, because I was the only one who worried about her, man. You should have done that."

Finn was very surprised. Firstly, because he couldn't imagine Rachel saying 'shit'. She must have been really upset. Or Puck was just overstating. He also didn't know Puck was that different after the incident in the port-a-potty.

Puck's voice took him out of his thoughts.

"You can punch me now, if it makes you feel better. Just not in the face."

Finn chuckled for the first time since Puck's arrival.

"I'm pretty sure it will make me feel better for a couple of minutes, but I'll pass. It doesn't change the past whether I beat the crap out of you or not."

"It's your choice." replied Puck "Now, wanna see what the others are up to on this Christmas Eve?"

"Who are we visiting?"

"Everyone."

Finn wrinkled his nose.

"I don't wanna visit my mom and Burt, they can be doing something that I don't really want to watch."

Puck laughed and assured him they wouldn't visit his mom.

"Come on, Kurt's the first one. It's just going downstairs."

They went downstairs to Kurt's basement. There was a big Christmas tree in there, sparkling in all colors imaginable.

The boy was applying his beauty creams or moistur-something and humming _Defying Gravity_ when his cell-phone rang. He looked happily at the screen and then answered.

"Hello Blaine! I'm so glad you called! Merry Christmas!" he paused, apparently waiting for an answer and blushed a little "Oh, I was doing nothing. It's just like another boring Christmas Eve!" he giggled "What about you?"

And the conversation kept going on.

"Is that guy, Blaine, kind of Kurt's boyfriend?" Finn asked.

"He's your brother, dude, not mine."

How could he have missed that? How could he have missed his brother's first boyfriend? Does he even still talk to people or he's he always wallowing in self pity?

"Come on, man. Time for another person."

In a split second they were at Artie's home. They walked through the bushes and went to peer on his window. Artie was showing his parents the cool gift he got from Santa Claus, the ReWalk, and his parents were crying happy tears, saying they were glad that someone got him that gadget to help him having a better life.

"It wasn't someone. It was Santa." corrected Brittany. Puck and Finn only realized she was there in that moment.

Artie's parents nodded, still grateful to the anonymous Good Samaritan. They helped him to get back on his wheelchair and then left the room.

"Aren't you glad that Santa managed to make you walk again? Well, kind of?" asked Brittany, kneeling in front of him.

Artie's face lit up.

"Yes, I am. But you know what I'm most glad for?" he asked her, lifting his brows.

"That you don't have a cat that reads your diary?"

Artie chuckled lightly and put his arms around her, pulling her for a tender kiss.

"No, silly. I'm glad that I forgave you when you used me and took my virginity, or else we wouldn't be dating now!"

They smiled at each other, contented, and watching from outside the window, Finn looked away. He should feel happy for their friends, and he was, really, but he couldn't help but feel jealous about them. He could have had that. But he just couldn't forgive Rachel. Or could he?

"Who do you want to visit now?" asked Puck, taking him out of his thoughts again.

"So now do I get to chose?" Finn asked, sarcastically. Puck just stared at him, blankly. "Okay, can we see what you're up to, today?"

Puck shot him a funny look.

"Dude, you already know what I'm doing today. Are you drunk or something?"

"How am I supposed to know what you're doing on Christmas Eve, man? You're Jewish!"

"You really are a dumbass, Finn!" Puck laughed loudly "I'm right here with you! That's what I'm doing on my Christmas Eve."

As Puck continued laughing, Finn frowned.

"I didn't think about that."

"That's your problem, man, you don't think." Puck was serious now "Where to?"

Finn scratched the back of his head, thinking. He knew who he'd wanted to see all night, since he left Mr. Schue's house, but he didn't think it was a good idea.

"What about Quinn?" Puck's face got a grim expression.

"That's just mean, dude. You know she's probably with Sam. And despite what everyone thinks, I'm still not over her."

Finn shrugged.

"I don't care. I wanna see what she's doing."

The other boy just snapped his fingers and they appeared in Quinn's living room. She was with Sam and her mother, sitting on the floor near the Christmas tree. Quinn was in the middle of her boyfriend and her mother and was holding a phone.

"Can they see or hear us?" asked Finn.

"No." replied Puck, coldly, trying his best to show no emotions.

Therefore, Finn got closer to the trio and saw what they were looking at on Quinn's phone. It was a video call with Shelby. She was showing Quinn how Beth was all grown up.

When he turned around, he saw Puck frowning and there was a glimpse of a tear in his eye. Finn felt instantly guilty.

"Let's get out of here." he said and in a blink of an eye they were in front of Santana's house. It was the way of Puck getting back at him and he didn't care. What he did was way worse.

"I'm sorry, Puck. I shouldn't have chosen Quinn. There was no way I would do that if I had known what she was doing…"

"It's okay. It was good to see that Beth is okay and healthy. It was the right choice. I mean, we gave her a better life. But I didn't know Quinn kept in touch with Shelby."

An uncomfortable silence settled between the two boys and then Puck snapped his fingers again and they were at Santana's bedroom. She was laid on the bed, her ponytail undone, staring at the ceiling, pretty much like Finn had been, before Mr. Schue came to take him in a past ride.

"Why are we here? It's just payback for me choosing Quinn, right?"

"Not only that…"

Finn shrugged.

"There's nothing to see in here. She's just there, doing nothing. How can we take a lesson from that?"

"It's actually the fact that she's there, _alone_, that we can use to learn something." Finn frowned, confused "She's just like us, Finn, alone and miserable, on Christmas Eve. The difference is that we know what love is. At least, from our moms. She doesn't know. Her parents don't give a damn about her and she doesn't have a boyfriend that actually cares about her. Not even Brittany spends the same amount of time with her that she used to." Puck paused "Our parents love us, and we had girlfriends that loved us too."

"I thought you were dating her."

"Nope… just sex. You should know it! With her, it's always about the sex."

Finn watched again the girl, who sighed heavily in that moment. And he felt pity for her. Not knowing what love is… must be awful.

"Where to, now?" he asked Puck. He snapped his fingers again and they were at Tina's home.

Hers and Mike's families were gathered around the Christmas tree and they were opening their presents.

"Isn't it too early to open the presents?" Finn asked.

"I dunno, dude. Maybe that's the way they celebrate Asian Christmas or whatever."

They watched as the families and their friends opened the presents grinning and giggling happily. Finn felt his chest warm when he saw the big smile on Tina's face when she received a black headband with _'Tina and Mike'_ written in purple.

"They're sweet together." stated Finn.

Puck was also smiling and almost nodded, when he actually realized what Finn said.

"You're such a sissy, _Finnessa_!"

Finn chuckled and Puck soon joined him.

"Let's go to Mr. Schue's now." said Puck, still smiling.

Another finger snap and they were at the teacher's living room, exactly where they were a few hours ago. Miss Sylvester was still there too.

"I've got to say, Sue, I never imagined you could do something like this!" exclaimed Mr. Schue, gesturing around the room. "It was really nice of you to bring all the kids here to give me company."

The cheerleading coach just shrugged.

"It was nothing and my sister will be proud of me. And that little miss diva Streisend aspiring is right; no one should be alone on Christmas Eve. Just don't get used to it. I still hate you." Mr. Schue chuckled and gave Miss Sylvester a playful punch on the shoulder "And don't _ever_ do that again."

"Sorry, Sue. It's just… I'd like us to be friends. We're very similar in some ways."

"Yeah, keep dreaming William!" she said.

However, there wasn't even a hint of sarcasm in her words and she was smiling. The teacher laughed again. There was hope for those two. Then Mr. Schue grabbed a bunch of plates and head to the kitchen with Miss Sylvester on his tail.

"Will, I really hope you use the present I gave you, though. Your hair is awful."

Another round of laughs and they were out of the room.

"Wow, this was odd." Finn stated.

"Yeah, a little." agreed Puck.

"A little? Man, Miss Sylvester is always trying to bring us and Mr. Schue down and now they're there like nothing ever happened? As if they were really friends? I'm sorry, but it's really weird to me."

Puck let out a heavy sigh, before replying to his friend.

"Can't you see they decided to bury the hatchet for this night? It's Christmas, Finn, and even though you think you hate it, there are other people who thrill with this."

"Like you and Rachel?" asked Finn, sarcastically.

"What? Dude, are you crazy?" Puck was actually surprised "We're a couple of hot Jews, we don't care about Christmas. Well, I don't. She was starting to care, because of you."

"Do you think I'm blind? A couple of hours before, I saw you two flirting in this same room. That's why I left earlier." Puck burst out laughing and Finn frowned deeply "Does the offer about the punch still stands?"

"Did you really think I was flirting with her? After all that happened?" Finn nodded "I wasn't. She looked sad, so I approached her and started to tell her jokes. That only worked until you left the party. A little after that, she went home too."

Finn looked into Puck's eyes, evaluating if he was telling the truth or not. He decided he was.

"Now, can we please be back on the subject?" asked the other boy "The thing here is that, even after all the bad things Miss Sylvester did to Mr. Schuester and to the glee club, Mr. Schue forgave her and actually wants to be friends with her. Of course, they have their differences, but Mr. Schue wants to get past them. He wants to believe in the good heart that he knows Miss Sylvester has. Most of all, he wants to forgive her."

Finn nodded slowly, thinking about what his friend had just told him. He could definitely learn something about that, in what concerns to his friendship with Puck. Maybe he's ready to forgive him. Then he had a mental image with Puck and Rachel kissing, and shoved the thought about forgiving Puck to the side.

"Now what? We're going back home?"

Puck shook his head.

"Aren't you missing someone?"

"I don't want to see her." said Finn, blatantly.

"You have no choice." replied Puck, snapping his fingers again.

In a blink of an eye they were looking through her bedroom's window, which was on the first floor.

"Don't look down." advised Puck.

As always, Finn didn't care and looked down anyway, losing his balance. Puck grabbed his arm.

"Shit! Why are we so high?"

"Didn't I tell you not to look down? And her room is on the first floor, genius."

"Why don't you have a cloud like Mr. Schue? I would feel safer that way."

Puck furrowed his brows and glared at his friend.

"Can't you just shut up, for like five minutes? This one is important."

Finn glared back at Puck, but did what he told him to do.

Rachel was sitting on her bed, with a scrapbook, filled with photos of her and Finn, on her lap. There were some photos that she would caress with her tiny fingers. Then, she took her hand to her face and wiped something from it.

She's crying.

"Is she crying?" asked Finn, dumbly.

"No, dude, a watering can just magically appeared on her eyes…" he replied, sarcastically "Of course she's crying! Now, listen closely."

In front of them, Rachel tossed the scrapbook onto the floor, fiercely. Hitting the floor, the book opened and showed a photo of Finn and Rachel on Regionals holding each other. Looking at that, she let herself fall on her bed and started to sob loudly.

Finn looked away.

"Where are her dads? She's crying so loud, they should have already heard that."

"Her dads are out of town. She told you, Finn, while you were planning the holidays together, before you broke up with her."

Another thing that Finn had forgot. Does the list ever end?

He focused again on the scene in front of him. She started to mumble something and was repeating it over and over again, like a mantra.

"What is she saying? I can't hear it…" said Finn.

"Let's go inside, then." A split second passed and they were standing inside the room "Now, listen closely."

Finn watched over at Rachel again, her hair spread on the pillow and her hands covering her face. Finn fought the urge to take her hands from her beautiful face. Not that she would feel it. Then he heard his name coming out from her lips. He focused even more.

"Please, please, let Finn forgive me. Let Finn forgive me. I promise to never hurt him again. Please, please." she paused, to cry hysterically. "I can't take it anymore. I can't."

Finn's eyes started to tear up and he could tell that Puck was uncomfortable too. Then her mantra changed and they focused again on what she was saying.

"I can't take this anymore. I can't take any more of this pain. Please, let me fall out of love with him. Please, it hurts too much to love him. I don't want it anymore."

Then she cried more and Finn couldn't help but to feel a tear slid down his face. Puck broke the silence.

"Let's get out of here."

And then they got back to Finn's bedroom. There were still traces of tears on Finn's face and Puck didn't know what to do.

"Are you okay, man?"

"Of course I'm not okay!" Finn yelled "She just said she doesn't want to love me anymore!"

Puck nodded slowly. Then he looked into his friends eyes.

"Did you learn anything at all from my visit tonight?"

"Yes, I learned that I'm a horrible person. I don't talk to people anymore, I feel jealous about others happiness, I wanted to make you feel pain when I chose Quinn and I just can't forgive Rachel!" Finn looked devastated at his friend "Or you, for what matters. And I feel that I don't even have a reason, right now. And it sucks."

Puck shook his head. This was harder than he thought.

"I really don't get it, Finn. You forgave Quinn, who had _sex_ with me! And you can't forgive Rachel just for a simple kiss."

Finn sighed.

"Quinn was mean, she still is sometimes, I didn't expect her to do that to me, but it was kind of her nature. With Rachel…" he paused, organizing his thoughts "I never thought she would do something as mean and spiteful as kissing you. And I know it wasn't because I had lost my virginity to another girl, it's because I lost it to Santana."

"And yet, you don't understand why." Puck let out another heavy sigh "She told me that what bothered her most was that why turned to someone so different from her."

"What do you mean?" Finn frowned.

"Rachel thinks you turned to Santana because she is everything she's not. And because she treats her like crap. She thinks Santana is way prettier, and now hotter, than her. Santana is mean and a cheerleader and she's not any of that. Since you've already dated a mean cheerleader before…" Puck paused "Don't you see a pattern here? Rachel saw that same pattern and, insecure as she is, she thought she would never be good enough for you as long as she was herself. So, she decided to be a little mean, without even noticing she was being like evil or something. Turns out you broke up with her anyway."

The boys stood there in silence. Puck looking at his friend and Finn letting the words sink on his mind.

"Well, dude, I'm gonna go. The Ghost of Christmas Future must be getting here any minute." Finn nodded but said nothing "Bye, man. See you tomorrow. Merry Christmas!"

With a snap of his fingers, Puck disappeared.

Finn sat on his bed thinking about what Puck just said to him. He never thought Rachel would feel that way about all the situation, because he was pretty sure he always let her know how much he loved her and cherished her, right?

Wrong.

He never stood up for her when she used to get slushied or when Santana or Brittany, hell, even Quinn, mocked her and called her names.

The only good thing he remembers to do to her was leaving Santana and Brittany behind, that day in the hallway, talking to no one, while he head to his magnificent girlfriend who had just sang a love song to him, in front of the whole glee club.

But that wasn't enough.

Well, if the purpose was to get him to like Christmas again, the ghosts had got it all wrong.

He felt worst than ever.

* * *

_Can you tell who's the next ghost is?_

_About the chapter, was it good or bad?_

_Let me know!_

_SLopez_


	4. Chapter 4: Ghost of Christmas Future

_Hi everyone! :)_

_First of all, thanks for the amazing reviews! They really made my day! You're very nice to me! :)_

_So, here it is: chapter 4 of this wicked story! :) And half a day earlier! Yay!_

_I have to warn you, this one is a little angsty and I think I'm not a very good angst writer, so my apologies in advance! :) Another thing is that I dislike how this chapter ended, but I tried and I tried and it ended up always the same way, so..._

_Also, I changed this to a Finn/Rachel fic. It fits better on the purposes of the story. I just hope my audience doesn't leave me bacause of this... Just kidding! :)_

_Enough with the talking, onto the story. Enjoy! :)_

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own Glee, but it would be awesome if I did! :)_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Ghost of Christmas Future**

Finn stood up and head to the bedroom's window. He just wanted that dream to be over, as soon as possible. It was more like a nightmare. Maybe if he tried hard, he could wake up.

"Hello, my dear brother!" the Ghost of Christmas Future had arrived.

"Jesus Christ!" Finn shouted, startled. He looked over to where the sound came and saw Kurt sitting on his bed. "Do you want to kill me? Do you want me to have a heart attack? Geez…"

"Oh, dear Finn, so dramatic… Rachel was starting to rub off on you." Kurt teased, giggling.

However, looking into Finn's angry face, he stopped giggling and grinning.

"So, you're what I think you are, right?"

"If by that you mean that I'm the Ghost of Christmas Future, then the answer is yes." stated the male diva, who happened to be his stepbrother, who also had a crush on him last year.

"Shouldn't you be like scary and covered with a black cloak or something?" Finn asked, curiously, while noticing his brother's outfit. He was wearing his garish yellow jacket and pants with a really weird pattern that Finn couldn't decipher.

"And what would be the fun in that?" asked Kurt, lifting a brow. "You're scared enough. Now, are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Finn answered. Kurt stood up and joined him near the window. "Wait… No."

Kurt frowned.

"Well, you have to make up your mind quickly, okay?"

"It's not that. I'm ready to go, but first I want to congratulate… that's a word, right?" Kurt nodded "Right. Well, I want to congratulate you on your boyfriend. I've been kind of distracted lately and just knew moments ago that you had a boyfriend."

Kurt was still with his brows furrowed, but looked at him confused.

"What boyfriend?"

"That guy you were on the phone with. Klaine or…"

"Did you listen to my phone call?" interrupted Kurt, astonished and blushing "That conversation was private, Finn."

Finn waved his hands, denying.

"No, no, I wasn't eavesdropping. Puck was my Ghost of Christmas Present and when we went to visit you, you were on the phone. All I got from the conversation was the guy's name. I thought he was your boyfriend."

Kurt sighed.

"Apparently you didn't even get his name right. His name is Blaine and I wish he was my boyfriend, but he isn't. Not yet, at least!" the fabulous boy chuckled and Finn sighed in relief. For a moment, he thought Kurt was mad at him. "Now, are you ready to go?"

Finn shook his head.

"What is it now?" asked Kurt, impatient.

His brother said nothing and just pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry I don't talk to you like I should. I'm just a selfish prick." Finn said into Kurt's shoulder "I didn't even know you were into another guy."

Uncomfortably, Kurt patted him on the back, assuring him it was okay.

"Everyone gets distracted once in a while. Now, can we please go?"

Finn cleared his throat.

"Sure. Where are we going?"

"Eight years from now." replied Kurt. Finn waited him to add some more information but Kurt added none.

"So, are we going in a cloud, like Mr. Schue or will you snap your fingers like Puck?" curiosity was taking over Finn, while is brother looked around his room, evaluating something he didn't understand yet.

"No. We're going to see it like a hologram, here in your bedroom." he stated "I could've made a projection on the wall, but you refused to listen to my advices about the color of your wallpaper and this one you have here is horrid and would totally mess up with my future self skin tone."

"Uh… sorry, I guess." replied confused Finn.

Kurt wandered around the room for a while longer until he found the perfect spot near the door. Then, he called Finn.

"Okay, are you ready to see your future?"

Finn hesitated a little.

"Yeah, let's go."

He had barely finished his sentence when an image materialized in front of him. He watched as his twenty-five year old self was pacing the room, back and forth, with a cell-phone on his hand. Apparently, either he was waiting for a call or deciding to make one.

Finn noticed something else. His room wasn't decorated for Christmas. There were no traces of a light, tinsel or even a present. Did he really lose the entire Christmas spirit and joy?

"Hey, Kurt, this future is on Christmas Eve, right?" his brother nodded "So, why isn't any Christmas ornament on my bedroom?"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Well, first of all, you're twenty-five and second of all, weren't you giving up on Christmas?" he paused for an effect "I guess you really did give up."

Finn nodded softly. He said those things earlier that day, but he didn't think he actually meant it. However, there was the proof, right in front of him, that he really meant that he '_officially hated Christmas_'.

"Am I waiting for a call or am I deciding whether to make a call or not?"

Kurt shrugged slightly.

"Since this year's Christmas, present not future, you were always pacing around in your room with a phone on your hand, on Christmas Eve. I tried to ask you about it and the first time you told me and I quote,_ Piss off! _The next year, you were calmer and told me you couldn't decide if you should call our fellow friends from glee club or not."

"What did I usually end up deciding?"

"You always decided not to call them." Kurt answered, shortly. They stayed in silence for a couple of minutes and then Kurt added "And you never mentioned her. Ever. You mentioned Puck, Quinn, Artie and even Sam, but never Rachel. This was odd, because she was one of my dearest friends. I thought you eventually would, at least, speak to her, but every time she visited me, you avoided my room and, in case you two crossed paths, you used to pretend she wasn't there."

The scene changed a bit. Now, twenty-five year old Finn was laid on his bed, much like Santana from the present was, staring at the ceiling.

"So what? Since this year's Christmas, I spent every Christmas Eve wallowing in self pity, alone, miserable and… and anti-social?" Finn asked surprised. He felt a pang at the pit of his stomach that felt a lot like emptiness, guilt and sadness, all together.

"Pretty much, yeah." replied Kurt.

"Did I even go to college?"

"Oh, yes. You got a football scholarship for OSU and majored there in Sports." Kurt paused and seemed to be thinking about what to say next "Actually, at the age of twenty-five, you're a very successful quarterback in some team that I don't remember its name, but you still live with our parents. You have a free pass to move out of hell-hole Lima, but you don't. It's like you want to be stuck in here."

Finn wanted to ask so much why, but he knew the answer. Lima was the only place that linked him to Rachel.

And he wanted to know about her future. Was she in New York, living her dream? Was she married? Did she win any Tony awards? Was she already raising her kids in Jewish faith?

He had all this questions and so much more, but there was no way in hell that he would ask Kurt. And he probably didn't know how to answer, anyway.

As always, his mouth opened without his brain's permission and he asked.

"What about Rachel?" as soon as he said the words, there was a hint of a smile on Kurt's lips.

In front of him appeared a coffee table with two chairs and finally Rachel and Kurt appeared. They were chatting, but the scene was in mute.

"Do you want to hear it live or do you want me to tell you the conversation?" asked Kurt.

"I want it live, please." he said, eyes glued to the scene in front of him.

.

_They had ordered their coffees and twenty-five year old Kurt started to speak._

"_Tell me, Rachel is it great or is it great living in New York?"_

_She giggled._

"_It's okay."_

.

How Finn loved hearing her giggle. But that giggle was missing something. Like her eyes. They were missing something too. Their spark. They were dull, like she had decided to give up on something. And her giggle… it was missing that joy it used to have.

Besides, the Rachel Berry he knew would never think of New York as just '_okay_'.

Something was wrong in that future, so he focused on the scene.

.

"_Didn't have any luck on that play's audition, sweetie?" asked a concerned twenty-five year old Kurt._

_Twenty-five year old Rachel looked down, sheepishly._

"_No, I did not have any luck with that." she stated, softly. "You know how hard it is these days."_

_He moved his chair closer to hers and put an arm around her shoulders. She started to sob softly._

"_It's okay, sweetie. I'm sorry I asked."_

"_No, no! Don't be! You were worried and I appreciate that. Really!" she tried to give him a smile "Besides, you drive all the way here, just to spend Christmas Eve with me and I'm very grateful for that! Screw Broadway and its plays!"_

_Twenty-five year old Kurt gasped, shocked._

"_I never thought I'd live the day to hear you say that, Rachel. Are you really okay?"_

"_Yes, I'm perfectly fine, Kurt. The thing is, you and me both know that without attending at Juilliard it's hard to find a job on Broadway, no matter how talented a person can be."_

.

The scene vanished. Finn's mouth was still hanged open. He couldn't believe what he listened to.

"Is this real?" he asked Kurt.

"It depends on your choices, Finn."

"Didn't she really attend classes at Juilliard? Were the guys blind or deaf? She's a major star, Kurt! How weren't they able to see that?"

Kurt took a deep breath.

"As you may have noticed, in the present we're in, she already started to decline any solo. She thinks that, since the whole glee club hates her, they don't need her."

"But that's bullshit! She's the best that club has and ever would have!"

"I don't doubt that. But, when no one appreciates you, your confidence shakes. That's what happened to her." Kurt paused to look back to Finn, who was frowning, his lips almost in a pout "Her luck was that she was so talented that, even doing just back-up singing, she managed to get a music scholarship at NYU. However, she lost her spark. She didn't try as hard to get what she wanted. Long story short: she wasn't the same Rachel Berry you and I know and like, despite her many imperfections."

Finn felt like he was on the verge of crying, he felt his eyes welling up and a lump on his throat.

"So, she never got to win her Tony awards, or get married and have cute Jewish kids?" Kurt shook his head. "Why did you stop the scene in that moment? There's something more I should know?"

Kurt took a time to consider whether to tell him something more or not.

"I'm not sure you should know what I'm about to tell you. But maybe it will help you, somehow."

"Just tell me already!" exclaimed Finn, anxiously.

"Well, after one of her dads died in a car accident, a couple of months later, and after her countless failed auditions she got really depressed. She was depressed already, but it got so worse that she had to took medicine. One day, she was found dead. Apparently overdosed. Since she didn't leave any suicidal note, the police thought she accidentally overdosed herself. I do, honestly, believe in this, because she may have lost herself somewhere along the way, but she never stopped being a drama queen. If she had committed suicide, she would have left a note, that's for sure."

Finn felt tears roll down his cheeks. He couldn't stop them now.

"Did I even go to her funeral?" he asked.

Kurt said nothing, but his expression betrayed him.

"What is the gravity of my _douchebagness_ in the future, Kurt? Does it get worse than this?"

"That time it wasn't your fault. We decided not to tell you." confessed Kurt. "Eventually, you discovered and two years after that conversation you just saw between me and Rachel, you went to visit her grave. Do you want to see that moment?"

His sobs didn't let him say anything, but he managed to shake his head.

"Let me just tell you something to make you feel better. At her funeral, none of our friends from glee club was there. It was just me, her dads and Shelby. I think I saw your mom there too, but I'm not sure."

Finn let out a desperate sob.

"How is that suppose to make me feel better? If I had treated her better, she wouldn't be dead in the first place."

"You don't know that!" Kurt interrupted "And you didn't let me finish. Two years after that scene you saw, you went to visit her grave, on Christmas Eve, and you stayed there all night, talking to her. Letting her know that's she was missed here. And you said, and I quote, _No one should be alone on Christmas Eve, Rachel… and… I still love you. I'm still yours, faithfully._" Kurt's voice cracked a bit "You asked for her forgiveness and I think she gave it to you, because you became a better person since then. And you started to be happy. You never moved from Lima, though." Finn sniffled "There's one thing I don't understand, thoug…"

"What is it?"

"You kissed Rachel while you were still with Quinn, you used her to get her back to glee club, you dumped her to find your 'inner rock star', you slept with Santana… basically, you hurt her and broke her heart countless times. She hurt you once and you don't give her any chance. How can you hold that much hatred towards her?"

Finn stood there, silent tears staining his face.

"What do I have to do for her not to leave this world?"

"That's for you to figure out, Finn. I can't help you any more than I already tried to. And I guess Mr. Schue's and Puck's advices will be taken in consideration. So, my dear brother, you have this night to figure it out. And you're smarter than you think." Kurt added with a smile.

Finn looked away from Kurt to wipe the tears that flowed from his eyes and when he turned around, Kurt was not there anymore.

He headed to the bed, laid down on his back and stared at the ceiling. He could try to refuse the advices the ghosts gave him, but they were already too deep in his mind. But he still thought he was too bad of a person.

His eyes filled with tears again and he tried to let himself cry to sleep. But he couldn't. Things had to be done. He stood up and headed to the door but he never made it there. Somewhere between his bed and the door, he was swallowed by darkness.

* * *

_Kind of dramatic, right? I hope I got the emotions right._

_Let me know!_

_SLopez_


	5. Chapter 5: Christmas knight and day

_Hi everyone! :)_

_First of all, **thanks so much** to all of you who reviewed this story, for those who put it on favorites and story alert! You really made my Christmas better, just for that! :) Thank you all so, so much!_

_Well, this is the last chapter of this story, sooner than I thought. Apparently, waking up earlier leaves us with more time to clean the house and therefore more time to come here and post chapters! :)_

_I hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the other chapters!_

_Now, a very Merry Christmas to all of you and a very prosperous New Year! :)_

_See you in my next story! ;)_

_**Disclaimer:** Don't own Glee. If you feel like you're into making good deeds, now it's the time to give Glee to me! But I'll be satisfied with reviews! :)_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Christmas (k)night… and day **

Finn woke up out of breath. He looked around and found himself on his bed.

Wait. Didn't he fall on the ground hours ago? Maybe it were minutes, he's not sure. Or maybe, that whole thing was a weird, freaky dream.

But… what if it was true? Was he prepared to live in a future with no Rachel in it? Now that he thought of that, he didn't think he could. Rachel always managed to make the best of him and he knows he does the same to her. Is he willing to let a relationship with potential slip through his fingers?

The hell he is!

Mr. Schue showed him the bad things he made in the past so he could fix it. Puck showed him many different situations from the now so he could understand that he was able to forgive and love people he wasn't supposed to, because they either hurt you or really don't deserve your love. Finally, Kurt showed him the horrible future he was destined to if he didn't do the right choice.

And it all comes to Rachel. She's the key to everything. She always was, but sometimes he needed more time than the regular people to get there, to get into the right path.

Of course there were other things he had to do. Like forgive Puck as well. It wasn't fair that he had forgiven Quinn and not his best friend. Plus, he thinks that Puck's visit as the Ghost of Christmas Present was the one who put more sense into his thick skull. Years and years of a friendship could do that.

Another thing he had to do is to talk more to Kurt. They never were that close, but since their parents' marriage, they considered themselves brothers, and after all, friends and Finn hasn't been as good as a friend should be.

However, he could do those things in the morning. Except talk to Rachel. That has to be done now.

He looked over at his alarm clock. _2:07. She must be sleeping. But this is for a good cause, _he thought.

He stood up and, trying to be quiet, he changed his clothes into warmer ones. It looked like it was still snowing and he didn't want to catch a cold. If he gets a cold, Rachel won't kiss him, and that's not the purpose of the operation.

Once he was ready, he thanked the gods once again that his bedroom was located on the ground floor and jumped out the window.

It took him just about ten minutes of running to get to Rachel's house. It was kind of close from his. As soon as he got there, he realized he forgot his cell-phone at home.

_Damn it!_, he cursed mentally, _You always have to mess everything, don't you, Hudson?_

Then, he saw some little tiny pebbles hidden in the snow on the ground and he caught a few.

_Okay, Finn, just don't break her window…_, he thought and threw the first pebble.

**-X-X-X-X-**

Rachel was curled in a ball, sleeping, when she heard some noises. She had cried until she finally fell asleep, so she thought the noises were due to her imagination.

However, the noises kept going on. Along with the noises came a voice, calling her name. She knew that voice very well. It was Finn's. Either that or her mind was playing tricks on her. She decided the last, because she didn't need to be more heartbroken than she already was.

Then, she heard another noise and realized it came from her window. She drifted out from her slumber state and heard a frustrated groan from the outside.

"Rachel, I'm running out of pebbles here! Please, wake up!" it was Finn. It was really Finn. Her mind wasn't deceiving her. He was really there, outside her house, throwing pebbles at her window.

She turned the lights on and neared the window.

**-X-X-X-X-**

Finn saw the lights turning on and her tiny features approaching the window. Moments later, he saw her sticking her head out.

"Thank God, Rachel. I was thinking that you weren't sleeping and that someone had discovered you were alone here and kidnapped you." she said nothing and Finn started to worry "Am I still sleeping?" he pinched himself. A sharp pain passed through his arm. Nope, he definitely wasn't asleep.

"What are you doing here, Finn? It's 2:30!" she asked, her voice low and unsure. She was never unsure. Finn needed to fix that too.

"I need to talk to you. May I come in?"

She seemed to consider if it was a good or a bad idea.

"I don't know, Finn. Are you going to bash on me again? Or are you going to remember me that we're officially broken up?"

"Neither of that. Please, let me in." he pleaded.

Rachel nodded, slowly. Hope grew on his chest.

"Okay, meet me at the front door."

He did as she told him to and a couple of minutes later she opened the door for him. She stepped back, giving him space to go in, and he fought the urge to kiss her senseless, right there.

Finn looked at her and he thought he had never seen someone more beautiful than her. Her pajamas had little Santa Claus plastered all over it and she had a pink robe over it. He was sure she just bought that pajamas, because she thought they were going to spend Christmas together and she knew how much he loved Christmas.

When his gaze reached her face, he saw her eyes were puffy and red. She had been crying, just like in his dream, when Puck showed him the present. Well, that's not totally odd, right? It's perfectly natural that she would be crying, especially since she was spending Christmas alone.

"What do you want, Finn?" she asked, softly.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure, you can start."

"What about we go to your room and talk there?" he needed to see something.

She frowned.

"I'm not sure, Finn. My dads aren't home and why is the bedroom a better place to talk than this where we're at?"

Finn scratched the back of his head.

"It's just… I had the weirdest dream. I need to check something."

"And what would that be?"

"Please, Rachel," he sighed, frustrated "as soon as we get to your room, I'll explain everything. I promise!"

Even though she didn't want him to notice, there was a hint of curiosity in her eyes, so she let him go to her bedroom, following closely.

Once he got there, his eyes searched the floor next to her bed and as he suspected there it was. Her scrapbook opened on the pages where their photo from Regionals was. The same photo he saw with Puck. Could the dream actually don't be a dream? Was it possible that all that thing about ghosts of past, present and future was true? Or was it just a weird coincidence? If it was true, he had to make things right, now, because he didn't like the future. Not even a bit.

"Rach, if I'd tell you something really crazy, would you think I'm crazy as well?"

She looked at him, quizzically.

"Well, that depends on what you're going to tell me, but I'd probably…"

"I was here tonight." he blurted out "Peeking at your window, with Puck."

Her mouth hanged open and she had her brows furrowed and Finn thought she was really scary in that moment. But he couldn't figure out why, until she held her robe more tightly to her body. She thought he was a pervert. _Nice one, Hudson…_, he thought, _Really nice…_

"No! No! It's not like that!" he assured her "What I mean is that _in my dream_, I was here. You were looking at that scrapbook, then you tossed it on the floor and it opened in the same pages that it's opened now. I know I look like I've lost my mind, but I didn't. This is true, Rach, you have to believe me."

Her expression didn't reveal any emotion, but at least she wasn't looking at him like he needed to be taken to a mental care house.

"Let's just assume that I, hypothetically, believe in what you're saying. Why was Noah with you, _lurking at my window_?"

"I… uh… you're not gonna believe this." he paused.

"Try me." she replied slowly.

"Well, let's just say the movie we saw at Mr. Schue's got stuck into my mind and in my dream I was visited by three ghosts and Puck was one of them." he stated, a bit afraid of her reaction.

"Who were the other ones?" she asked, with _real_ curiosity. He was surprised. He thought she was going to yell at him and then kick him out of her house.

"Well, hmm…" he cleared his throat "Mr. Schue was the first one, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Puck was the Ghost of Christmas Present and Kurt was the Ghost of Christmas Future."

"And you came here just to tell me your dream and see for yourself that it all had been a dream?"

"No, Rachel. Well, when I got here, I thought about the scrapbook and wanted to be sure if it was really just a dream or not." she frowned a little, folding her arms "But the main reason I came here for is to beg for your forgiveness."

He had never seen her eyes grow that much wide, before that moment.

"W-what? Why?" she stuttered. Rachel Berry never stutters.

"Rachel…" he grabbed her hands and she didn't pull away "I saw my future and it was without you. And I don't want to live in a future if you're not there to put some sense in my head and to teach me new and cool words and, more importantly, to make me happy. I can't be happy if you're not there with me!" she was fighting back tears and, so far, she was succeeding "I love you, Rach. And we did some pretty messed up things to each other, but I hurt you more times than I can count and you always forgave me."

She pulled her hands from his and averted her gaze to the floor.

"You know what hurt the most about this Santana thing?" she asked, barely above a whisper "It was that you didn't even tell me that you were sorry. Because of that I started to think that you liked mean girls, so, stupidly, of course, I decided to be mean. And Noah was there for me, he noticed me when I needed most. I didn't even think about what he had already done to you in the past." she let out a small sob.

"It's okay Rachel, it was my entire fault. I should've told you in the beginning. She never meant anything to me. After we… did it, I felt empty, numb, because I knew I always wanted you to be my first and I knew that what I had done was wrong. I didn't tell you before, because I didn't want to hurt you. I was trying to pretend that never happened. And I'm sorry, Rachel, so sorry!"

"It's fine, Finn. We both have our share of guilt and how about we put the entire situation behind our backs?"

Finn grinned her favorite grin that melted her heart. He grabbed her hands again.

"That would be great Rachel. I have one condition, though." she lifted a brow, waiting for him to continue "Actually, there are two conditions. Will you spend Christmas day with me?" she nodded, smiling "Now, it's the more important condition… Will you be my girlfriend again? Please?"

Rachel's smile grew into that million mega watt one that he knew so well and loved so much and she jumped into his arms.

"Yes Finn, I will!" she shouted.

"I love you so much, Rachel!" he whispered in her ear, while engulfing her in his big arms.

"I love you too, Finn."

When they pulled apart, his lips brushed gently against hers and he sure as hell loved Christmas again.

**-X-X-X-X-**

When he got home, he could only think about how lucky he was. His reconciliation with Rachel was much easier than he thought. It was so good to feel her lips on his and her laughter and her smile and her everything.

The first thing he did when he got home was to pick his phone and call Puck. He tried once and no one picked up. The second time, he heard his friend's groan on the other side.

"Hey man!" greeted Finn.

"The fuck you want, Hudson? Better be something worth it or I'll kick your ass, next time I see you… This isn't time to be calling people, dude!"

"I just wanted to thank you. For everything. Without you I would still be miserable right now."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Finnessa." he replied, grumpy.

"Just thanks, okay?" he paused and heard another grumpy groan "Oh, and ask Quinn about Beth! Merry Christmas, Puck!"

"Yeah, whatever. Merry Christmas to you too." And with that the phone call died.

After that, Finn thought about going downstairs to catch up with Kurt, but he also thought the other boy wouldn't find that funny at that hour in the morning, so he decided to go to sleep and when the sun rose he would talk to his brother.

**-X-X-X-X-**

Finn didn't wake up as early as he had in mind, but he still managed to wake before the lunch was served and he still had time to catch up with Kurt. He now knew it all about the dude Blaine and he had his fingers crossed for that relationship to work out. He also told Kurt that he and Rachel got back together and his brother was really happy for that.

After lunch, he went to pick up Rachel and soon after that they were pulling into his driveway. Once she got there, she started to distribute all the presents she had bought to his family, leaving his present to the end.

"Merry Christmas, Finn!" she said, smiling at him, kindly.

When he ripped the wrapping paper, he saw the scrapbook she had in her room.

"You made this for me?" she nodded "Thanks Rachel."

He turned his gaze to the floor, embarrassed.

"What's wrong, Finn? You don't like the present, is that it?" she asked.

"No, no! I loved it! It's just, I didn't buy you anything and I was planning on giving you another thing. At least, it's a meaningful one."

"Finn, look at me." she sighed and he did as she said "I bought the scrapbook a long time ago, before I even met you, but I hadn't found the right memories to put in there until this year." they smiled at each other and then she demanded "Now, show me my present."

He took her hand in his and led her to his bedroom. It was decorated again with every type of Christmas ornament plus a big Christmas tree.

"I have a tree in here that needs a golden star." he stated, handing her a golden star and flashing her his half-grin "And I promised you a long time ago that when I became stronger and taller I would help you to put that star wherever you wanted."

"You remember that?" she asked, her eyes wide open.

He nodded, and then grabbed her waist, lifting her up while she put the star on the top of the tree.

"Thanks so much, Finn! It's the best Christmas present anyone has ever given to me!"

He smiled at her and she pecked his lips.

"Wait, there's more." he added "Close your eyes, please." she did as he obliged and felt something against her collarbone. She immediately took her hand to it and felt the letters of his name at the tips of her fingers. It was her _Finn_ necklace "I missed that on you, so I hope you don't mind that I broke into your locker and kind of stole it. Merry Christmas, Rach!"

She couldn't contain so much joy, she was almost bursting. So, she threw her arms around his neck and tackled him. They both fell on his bed, laughing. Rachel lifted her head up so she could kiss Finn, but he stopped her, reaching for something and holding it above their heads.

"Two years ago, someone slushied you and Quinn got in the way. Last year, there was no Quinn, but there was also no mistletoe. Now, we gathered all the conditions to a romantic Christmas kiss under the mistletoe." he grinned at her; she was speechless and he continued "You know, you can kiss me if you want to!"

She giggled, the giggle he missed so much.

"I want to."

They leaned towards each other and their lips crashed.

Yes, definitely, Christmas was awesome.

**THE END**

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_Did you love it or hate it?_

_Let me know!_

_SLopez_


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